Monday, October 05, 2009

Hamilton Half Marathon

I was quite happy to sign up for the Hamilton half marathon because I haven't been to Hamilton (about 70 minute drive from Auckland) and because I havent had a race in a while, so my training was starting to get a little purposeless. I need the constant race environment to just keep me in check and ensure I keep going.

So when I woke up on Sunday morning and saw torrents of rain pouring down, i knew it wasn't going to be fun. The weather was about 12-14 degrees and as Tegan, Sarah and I drove along the motorway heading towards Hamilton, the rain only got heavier.

Standing in the rain at the start line, shivering and soaked to the bone before the race even started, I had one thought on my mind. Daddy. If this were in Malaysia, and I had signed up with my dad, I would've woken up to see a piece of paper underneath my door saying "Raining, girl, go back to sleep la, Love, Dad". And I would've gladly concurred, as i bury myself deeper underneath my fleece blanket at home.

But nope, when you're in hard out kiwiland, u become a hard out kiwi. 21km, 14 degrees, pouring rain, doesn't warrant going back to bed.

It took forever for me to warm up. I kept feeling like I had to pee. I tried to run faster to warm up more. My shoes squeaked. I was so not enjoying this race at the start.

But then the rain slowed down a little after about 6-7ks. And I felt like I was just the right temperature to run. I had Tegan in sight and was wondering to myself whether or not I can keep up with her. I could tell I was running at a pretty fast pace, faster than I usually would for 21km. But I don't know if it was the cooling rain, or the fact that I have been training my hamstrings and glutes, or both, but I felt a lot stronger. I wasn't tired going this fast.

It was a lovely route along the Waikato river and in the Hamilton Gardens. I loved it. If only it wasn't raining. I hit the turnaround 10.5km mark in about 56 minutes. I was thinking, man, this could be a PB!

It started to pour heavily again. The second half of this race was dedicated to keeping up with Tegan. She was an extremely strong runner and I wasn't sure if i could keep up. But I tried anyway. I made the gap between us closer, but it took effort. When I was close enough to overtake, I wondered if she'd try to overtake me as well. I always have this fear that if I overtake someone, they're gonna try to up their game and overtake me too. Then we'd both be racing at a pace too fast to keep up with.

So I think I ran behind her for a km or 2 and finally overtook her about 4kms from the finish. I figured if she came up next to me I could race for about 20 odd minutes. But she didn't. Which is good for her as well, because this was her first half marathon and she showed that she could pace herself well. Giving in to temptations to race was something most amateurs fall for and end up burning out. not trying to be an expert, but i've been there. :).

so i completed the 21kms in 1 hour 50 mins. Really great timing for such crap weather. Really great timing even on a good day! Tegan came in about a minute or 2 after me. Sarah did her best time as well. I say we're all pretty cool to have gone on with it even in the cold pouring rain.